Description: Annual herbs.
Leaves linear to terete, channelled below, blunt, bearing compressed leafy shoots in the axils; stipules small, falling early, wider than long.
Inflorescence a loose terminal leafless cyme. Pedicels spreading to reflexed after flowering. Sepals 5, free, ovate with scarious margins. Petals 5, ovate, entire, white, shorter than the sepals. Stamens 5 or 10. Styles 5, free, alternating with the sepals.
Capsule with 5 teeth, longer than the sepals; seeds numerous, black, finely wrinkled, variously winged.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 5 species, Europe & temperate Asia. Australia: 2 species (naturalized), all States except N.T.
Text by A. Doust
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Glandular hairs present on stems, leaves and sepals; stamens 10; seeds with a scarious wing or keel much narrower than the diam. of the seed body | Spergula arvensis |
| Glabrous in all parts; stamens 5; seeds with a scarious wing as wide as the diam. of the seed body | Spergula pentandra |
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